Chingam 1 : Time for New Beginnings

This is the first step in the revival of my blog; a decision mainly prompted by friends and well-wishers in India who wish to hear more about what peters out of me during conversation. So strictly for my Indian readers, here it goes..

The trouble with me is that I seem to think it's very hard to get anything off the internet and regrettably so. So one has to be --this is from my training as a lawyer-- extra sure that one wants to commit matters to paper. In the old days, one could simply commit the scrolls to fire.. I have done it sommany times, in fact twice I have been tempted to press the delete button already! Alas! Not any more in the day of the all-powerful internet can one wipe it out entirely.

Of particular interest to my friends were my writings on the distinctive cultural history of Travancore, particularly it's diplomatic relations with various powers in control of greater India and particularly so- the British Empire and the British Raj in India. It sure is a perspective obfuscated by the politics of the current day. And it really is what produced me and continues to shape my opinions and reactions to every matter that comes up.

I decided to begin my various scribblings on the 1st day of Chingam which is now celebrated (erroneously)as the Malayalam New Year. In fact it is the beginning of harvest --that particularly lovely clime when rice is harvested-- and the most important festival of the Malayali races, Onam, is celebrated during in the month.

Until the late forties and early fifties when the State of Travancore joined India, we in the southernmost corner of the Indian sub-continent followed the Malayalam Era (a. k. a. the Kollam Era) with Malayalam months beginning in Medam (Mesha in Sanksrit / Aries in Latin) . When a new democracy dawned in India --a great achievement nonetheless-- the resulting standardization meant the states that joined the new nation had to forgo elements of its distinctive culture and take up the prevailing set European measures. Now, there's the first history lesson for you! Perhaps one ought to read Tagore's tirade against nationalism!

Now, I do not consider this 'blog'  to be a serious one. It's great for discussion, something India has been doing from its very past. Sorry for having to say this- All views expressed are my own and not of any parties that I represent or have done. I might seem to pour scorn on various personalities--dead & living. This is only a derivative of my quest for the goodness of India, churning the milky or rather murky, ocean for the very best of what India means to me.

Another warning: I'm going to --as always-- say things for my pleasure and not to please anybody in particular as I have always done.And if that doesn't stop you from reading on; I don't know what might?! Go ahead..